LOYALTON — Upper Dauphin Area High School Principal Dermot Garrett announced his intent to retire in a letter to the school board Tuesday.
The board unanimously approved Garrett’s retirement request, effective Nov. 22, 2016, and approved a motion to advertise for his replacement.
Garrett had previously worked in the district, left, and later returned to serve the district. He’s been with UDA a total of 13 years, according to Superintendent Evan Williams. The board approved the reinstatement of 87 sick days to Garrett — previously earned and unpaid during his former employment at UDA.
All board directors were present for Tuesday’s meeting, including David Barder, Mills Eure, Jack Laudenslager, Roni Mace, Angela Mattern, the Rev. Nathan Minnich, Kathryn Talhelm, Stephen Welker and Kirk Wenrich.
Three citizens addressed the board. Mary Ann Mattis, and her mother, Anna Mattis, said they were concerned about Bender Street and Spruce Street in Elizabethville and about the school bus traveling on those roads. Mary Ann Mattis said there’s a rotted pipe, the road is narrow, and there’s also a blind spot in that area. She worried about her mother getting struck while walking out to check her mailbox, she said, because the road is so narrow.
Barder said the district would check on the width of the right-of-way there, but said if it’s a public road, the condition of the road would be a matter for the borough to address.
Another citizen, Jerry Stauffer, of J.S. Construction, Elizabethville, asked the board about the status of the building trades program. Stauffer said he has two children in the district, a son who will be a sophomore next year and a daughter who will be a senior. He said his son may be interested in the building trades program. The board said Scott Kreiser runs the course, and Stauffer is welcome to contact him to see what work students have completed. On a related note, the board voted to table taking action on the next building trades home plans until receiving additional information about the plans.
In other matters, Elijah Shutt, on behalf of the Upper Dauphin Area Education Association, encouraged the board to keep the current programs intact when considering the 2016-17 budget. The union suggested the board “look for other options” instead of program cuts when determining ways to balance the upcoming budget.
Business Manager Mary Bateman said the board anticipates voting on a final budget at its 7 p.m. June 9 meeting.
Under the proposed 2016-17 preliminary budget, real estate taxes would increase by the Act 1 index of 3.3 percent from 17.6908 mills to 18.2745 mills. The budget shows estimated revenues of $18,481,578 and $23,824,979 as the fund balance, revenues and total finances available.
The board approved:
• The contract between the Capital Area Intermediate Unit and the Upper Dauphin Area School District for special education services.
• Seeking requests for proposals for surveillance systems for the high school and middle school. Williams said the current systems are aging.
• An infrared roof scan of the high school to check for any leaks, as the roof is coming to an end of its warranty period. The $3,200 scan will cover areas that were coated sometime between 2004 and 2006, including the cafeteria, hallways, gym and auditorium.
• To commit the portion of the fund balance that exceeds the state Department of Education allowable limits obtained from the upcoming June audit allocated at 80 percent to capital projects and 20 percent to the state Public School Employees’ Retirement System reserve.
• An expulsion waiver for a student. No details were released on the reason.
In other business, Laudenslager asked Williams why the district did not approve a visit to the elementary school by Gov. Tom Wolf. Williams said that it was a staffing and management problem. Williams said he received a call on a Thursday from the governor’s press secretary, and that was the first he heard of the matter. Williams then called Elementary Principal Jessica Megonnell, and that was the first she had heard of his potential visit. Megonnell already had a scheduled vacation on that day, Williams said, and about 10 percent of the staff was on leave at the time. A teacher had apparently offered the invitation to the governor to visit a classroom, but hadn’t relayed that message to the administration. Williams said he called the press secretary back and explained that the district could not accommodate the governor’s visit at that time, and offered to reschedule.
“If we had all hands on deck, we could have done something, but we didn’t,” Williams said.
Laudenslager said he thought that would have been a good opportunity for students.